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Wikileaks

This is the first non-technical post of meshfields ever. It is a break because I never wanted to pollute this blog with politics. You might disagree with my opinions. And that is perfectly fine.

One could arguably say that Wikileaks is breaking United States law. But Wikileaks servers are not located in the United States. The US is shutting down Wikileaks DNS records without any involvement of the judiciary. Moreover a US senator called for the assassination of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.

I leave it up to you to decide who is breaking the law in this case.

Disclosures

If you are still not sure if more transparency in our governments is a good thing, then maybe the following selection of the 2010 Wikileak cables will change your mind.

Supporters

I also want to quote John F. Kennedy, the assassinated US President, who once said:

'The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society. Inherently and historically, we as a people are opposed to secret proceedings and concealment.'

-- John F. Kennedy, New York City, April 27, 1961

How can you help?

In case you also think, that a free and open society should not penalize individuals who reveal findings of greater public interest, even if it is classified, you can support WikiLeaks by sending them money or join your state's Pirate Party at the next election.
I myself decided to quit PayPal and just received my last shipment ever from Amazon as both companies pulled their support of wikileaks with no legal obligation in my opinion, but I am no law expert, so I leave it up to you. I for my part look forward to conduct my christmas shopping at alternative online-stores.
If you want to, you can also help by using this iconset to spice up your Social Media Avatar. (wikileaks-avatar.zip)
If you are not confident with Graphics you can just grab one of these:

Links

I put together a link list mostly containing links to the free press and media, which I found to be interesting.
CNN: Times and NYT editors discuss Wikileaks
Washington Times: Wave goodbye to Internet freedom
Gawker: US gov starts censoring Foxnews.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com
Ron Paul calls Wikileaks Heros in speech
Slate.com: Why I Love WikiLeas by Jack ShaferReporters Without Borders condemns the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure being directed at wikileaks.org.
MSNBC: Assange 'rape' accuser has CIA ties.
Rixstep Blog: Julian Assange & Anna Ardin: The person behind the police complaint identified.
Google Android: Host a WikiLeaks mirror from your phone.
The Sunday Mail (Qld): Sweden's justice system may become a laughing stock over the rape charges against Wikileaks figurehead Julian Assange by James D CatlinUSA, UK, Canada, Australia join China in blocking the Internet.
Youtube: Transparency will be the touchstones of this presidency. By B Obama
After some thorough evaluation weather to put direct links to Wikileaks on this site I came to the conclusion that it was the right thing to do to support those who are censored and hunted. Let me say it with the words of Beatrice Hall:

'I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write'

-- Evelyn Beatrice Hall in The Friends of Voltaire (1906)

Hence since the cyber attacks from the 'dark' continue -- if you are a responsible journalist -- you can reach Wikileaks on any of these mirrors or directly here. I also recommend to read about developments on the Guardian, Time Magazine, El Pais, Der Spiegel, other independent media and the blogosphere.

Please follow the independent media like blogs, twitter, facebook, tumblr, identi.ca since the USA and other governments have started to censor their heart out. This censorship agenda of the States and the EU is the biggest threat to freedom of speech, thought and press, that the world has ever faced.

It comes to no surprise that the US is planning to roll out programs like SHIELD and ACTA that will effectively silence the media. ACTA was signed by the EU member states last week. Senator Liebermann said they will charge the New York Times with espionage and censor US media for ever. You also know from the cables who created the European censorship law and with what unlawful methods.

Our Corporate world made it very clear from the beginning on which side they are on. Google already stopped indexing new Wikileaks mirrors and Mastercard, Visa, Amazon and Paypal have withdrawn without legal obligation their business relationship to Wikileaks. Only the Web 2.0 with Reddit, Twitter and Facebook seems -so far- not willing to join in into this beginning era of censorship. However keep in mind Twitters OAuth is anything but secure as every OAuth allowance you have nodded to can manipulate your account anytime.

I would be interested in your thoughts on weather wikileaks is right or wrong and any other useful links in the comments section below.